Palestinians warned over UN move

[Fozzledick]

Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, has warned the Palestinian leadership against any attempts to unilaterally declare statehood for the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

West Bank-based Palestinian officials said on Sunday that they were preparing to ask the United Nations Security Council to declare their backing for the Palestinian quest for an independent state.

In a radio address on Sunday evening, Netanyahu said: "There is no substitute for negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

"Any unilateral action would only unravel the framework of agreements between us and can only lead to one-sided steps on the part of Israel."

Netanyahu did not specify what "steps" Israel could take, but Israeli legal experts have said that if the Palestinians were to move forward on their own then Israel could cancel interim peace accords.

"Israel could say there has been such a gross and major violation that the agreement itself is no longer in force," Robbie Sabel, a former legal adviser to Israel's foreign ministry, told The Associated Press news agency.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/11/2009111653941671211.html

[Fozzledick]

1. 'Israel should annex settlements if PA declares independence'

Israel should respond to a possible unilateral Palestinian declaration of independence by annexing the West Bank settlement blocs, Army Radio quoted senior right-wing ministers as saying on Monday.

The comment, made by National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau and Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz, came after Palestinian officials were reported to have been preparing to ask the United Nations to endorse an independent state without Israel's consent.

"We must be clear and tell them that, if that's the route they choose to take, any unilateral declaration on their part will be countered by declaring our sovereignty on all 'C' Areas," Landau said, referring to those which, according to the Oslo Accord, are in full Israeli civilian and military control.

"I think it is an outrage," Landau added of the possibility of a unilateral declaration of independence.

"We've been seeing a series of Palestinian attempts in various area and this is one of them. It is a hostile proposition, one surely meant to erode any chances of continuing negotiations," Landau said.

Environment Minister Gilad Erdan aldo told Army Radio on Monday that "If the Palestinians take such a unilateral line, Israel should also consider ... passing a law to annex some of the settlements."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1128496.html

[IndianaGreen]

6. Call the Zionist bluff!

These assholes have already annexed the West Bank settlements in anything but name. The status quo has done nothing for the Palestinians, so they might as well sink this bullshit of a ship that is the "peace process."

[azurnoir]

7. PLO leaders dismiss day-long threats

PLO officials responded in force to Israel's threats to seize more territory if Palestinians follow through with a plan to seek UN recognition of an independent state.

Israeli officials have threatened to meet unilateralism with unilateralism if the PLO follows through, including annexing major settlement blocks or the entire West Bank, as well as withholding tax revenue or even withdrawing from the Oslo Accords.

Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat officially announced on Monday that efforts to issue a Security Council resolution had begun.

"We are now facing a moment of truth," he said. "We will seek to pass this Security Council resolution and the activation of the Fourth Geneva Convention to protect the Palestinian people."

Regarding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's threats to respond with similar unilateralism, Erekat responded, "Israel's daily provocative actions are unilateral," according to a separate statement.

Ahmed Qureia, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, articulated various options available to the leadership, all the while undetered by the specter of unilateral action, Israeli media reported on Monday.

"As people living under occupation, we are committed to looking into other options. Diplomacy is an option, turning to the UN is an option, the popular struggle is an option. All options are available and we have many possibilities," he said, according to the online news source Ynet.

Qureia emphasized that Israeli threats failed to intimidate, noting, "It's true that the Israel threat exists, and we have heard Netanyahu, but as far as we are concerned, the occupation is the biggest threat that can be."

Palestinian National Initiative secretary-general Mustafa Barghouthi agreed, calling Netanyahu's warnings "ridiculous" in a statement to Ma'an. "There aren't any Palestinian territories left to threaten - they're all occupied."

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=240410

[Violet_Crumble]

2. What do you expect from a hardline RWer who isn't interested in a two-state solution? n/t

[no_hypocrisy]

3. I don't get it.

Israel was established in part by recognition of the newborn United Nations via the initial partitioning of the land. (The adoption of UNSCOP's recommendation to partition Palestine by the United Nations General Assembly in 1947<1> was one of the earliest decisions of the UN. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel,_Palestine,_and_the_United_Nations)

[sabbat hunter]

8. Sadly

If the Palestinian leadership had done the same thing as Ben-Gurion did back then, they would have had their own state as well for all these years. But sadly they were duped by their Arab "brethren"

[Recursion]

4. Some nations have the right to exist and others don't, I guess NT

[IndianaGreen]

5. Call Bibi's bluff, and give the finger to visiting American lapdogs of Israel lobby

Bibi will never stop the settlers that gave him power.